The child-poverty rate in rural America was 26.7 percent in 2012, the highest rate in more than four decades, according to Census Bureau data. An analysis by the USDA’s Economic Research Service says income inequality was the primary reason for the increase, far outweighing the effect of the overall decline in rural family income due to the recession of 2007-09.
Child-poverty rates moderated somewhat in the past couple of years as part of the economic recovery, but at 23.7 percent in 2014, the rate is still higher than before the recession. It was 20.1 percent in 2003.
In an article in Amber Waves, a USDA publication, economists Thomas Hertz and Tracey Farrigan say the rural child-poverty rate remains elevated. “This implies that income inequality in rural America had worsened; that is, the gap between the bottom and the middle of the income distribution that existed prior to the Great Recession of 2007-09 had widened.”
The average income of U.S. families with children rose modestly from 2003-14, but the average income of rural families declined slightly during the period — and for the poorest rural families with children, it plummeted more than 12 percent. “Because labor income is the largest component of family income, the primary source of rising inequality lies in the labor market, which suggests that jobs creation in rural areas may help alleviate rural child poverty.”